1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to dispensing containers from vending machines or the like and, more particularly, to dispensing both snack food products and beverages from a single vending machine.
2. Description of Relevant Art
It is well known in the prior art to dispense beverages, e.g., cans of soft drinks, from a coin-operated vending machine. Coin-operated vending machines also are used to dispense packages of food products, e.g., candy, snack foods such as potato chips or pretzels, or sandwiches.
In the snack food art, salty snack food products, e.g. corn chips, cheese snacks, pretzels, etc., typically are packaged in bags formed of flexible packaging films, or canisters formed of paperboard material. These packaging films typically are complex laminated structures that provide moisture and oxygen barrier layers to prevent premature staling or loss of product freshness. In addition, it is known to package food products such as peanuts in a metal can having a resealable lid for maintaining product freshness.
In the prior art, a plurality of vending machines often are disposed or located together in a common area, e.g., a travel rest area or a snack bar. The machines contain and dispense various beverages, snack foods, candy, etc. However, in arrangements of the above-described type, the separate vending machines respectively dispense separate types of products. That is, a machine typically dispenses either beverages or food products, but not both. For example, a machine which dispenses cans of soft drinks does not dispense food products. Consequently, a purchaser cannot obtain a beverage and a snack food product from prior art soft drink vending machines.
The cost of a vending machine often prohibits its placement in certain locations where "turns," or purchases of the vended products, are not of sufficient frequency (relative to the product's shelf life) to provide an adequate return on investment. For this reason, it is not uncommon to find beverage vending machines standing alone without a snack food vending machine. Also, as beverage vending machines are refrigerated while snack food vending machines are not, there are many outdoor vending locations that are hostile to the placement of snack food vending machines due to temperature and moisture extremes.
Snack-food or rest-area vending arrangements often include an oven for cooking food products purchased from the machines. It is known in the prior art to combine a microwave oven with a food-vending machine to permit the products to be cooked and then dispensed to the purchaser. See e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 5,147,068, which teaches that the food products may be dispensed by a conventional soft drink vending machine. The 5,147,068 patent, however, does not teach or suggest dispensing both a beverage product and a food product from a single vending machine but, rather, teaches only the conventional usage of a machine to dispense only one product or the other.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,901,964 discloses a vending machine with means for heating refrigerated sandwiches. The purchaser selects a type of sandwich which is then heated and dispensed by the machine. U.S. Pat. No. 5,207,784 discloses a monitoring system for monitoring the inventory status of vending machines from a remote location. U.S. Pat. No. 3,810,561 discloses a vending machine for dispensing containers having a circular cross-section through a discharge port. The 3,810,561 patent teaches that although the containers typically will be cans of soda, other items also can be dispensed in the circular containers. However, as with the patents mentioned above, the 3,810,561 patent does not teach or suggest dispensing both a beverage and food product from a single soft drink vending machine.
It is apparent that prior art product vending or dispensing apparatus, such as those discussed above, dispense either a beverage or a food product and, therefore, do not permit a purchaser to obtain both a beverage, e.g. a soft drink, and a snack food product, e.g. corn chips, from a single soft drink vending machine. Accordingly, there is a need in the art for improved dispensing of such products.